Getting your Business Ready for Copilot

AI is becoming more integrated into every day business to help professionals save time and be more productive. Microsoft’s release of its AI-powered technology, Copilot, is one example of a tool that will help us be more efficient in our daily work. In this blog, we outline what Copilot is, how it works and how your small and medium-sized business (SMB) can get AI-ready.  

Developed by GitHub, OpenAI, and Microsoft, Copilot is an AI-powered tool integrated into Microsoft 365 apps that combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with individual’s users’ data in the Microsoft Graph—your calendar, emails, chats, documents, meetings, and more to turn your words into a productivity tool. Copilot essentially, acts as your AI assistant or “copilot” at work.  

Benefits 

By introducing Copilot at your business, you can start building foundational productivity. Key benefits include:  

• Boosts creativity and collaboration 
• Enhances productivity 
• Skill development 

70% of employees are willing to delegate parts of their work to AI. Work Trends Index, 2023 

As a Microsoft Solutions Partner for Modern Work, we are committed to guiding businesses through their Microsoft 365 journey. In order to prepare for the general release of Copilot, SMBs need to get AI ready. Here’s some recommendations from Microsoft on how to prepare: 

• Subscribe to Office 365 E3/E5, Microsoft 365 E3/E5, Microsoft 365 Business Standard, and Business Premium
  • No minimum license purchase size requirements
  • Available exclusively on "Annual Commitment | Annual/Prepaid Billing"  
• Structure your data in the cloud 
  • Migrate/upgrade to cloud- Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint online, Microsoft 365 apps 
  • Declutter data 
• Implement data protection policies 
• Embrace zero-trust 
  • Microsoft Entra 
  • Microsoft Defender for business 
  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365 
  • Azure information protection 
• Simplify endpoint management 

Common Examples of Usage 

PowerPoint: Transform your written content into a visual present with a click of a button. 

Word: Copilot can write an entirely new document like a business proposal using content from your existing files. Another example is that it can turn a 20-page PDF into a short summary. 
 
Teams: Copilot can generate meeting summaries with discussed follow up actions. 
 
Excel: Copilot will work with datasets in your Excel spreadsheets to reveal insights, analyze and point out trends, and craft data visualizations that professionally display your data almost instantaneously. 
 
Outlook: Copilot can draft internal and external emails based on content you select. 
 
In addition to Microsoft apps, Copilot can be paired with other applications and areas within the broader Microsoft ecosystem as well, such as Dynamics 365, security and business chat. 

Availability 
 
In March 2023 Microsoft announced Copilot, releasing it to enterprise-only customers that purchase a minimum of 300 seats on November 1, 2023. Microsoft Copilot is now available to all businesses with a Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Microsoft 365 Business Premium license.
 
The team at Nucleus is excited about the benefits Copilot will bring to workplaces and as a Microsoft Solutions Partner we are dedicated to assist with enterprise deployments. Connect with us to learn more!